Who won the first debate?

[Maxwell]

I think it went better than I expected, but a bit worse than I hoped. Trump re-upped his primary performances with a bit more detailed and aimed at attacking Hillary Clinton. Truthfully, I have no idea how this will play with the rest of America. Hillary had a lot of good parts to her performances, and some bad parts to her performances.

On substance, I think Hillary won handily even as Trump attempted to get more detailed. On surface, I think Trump had moments where his aggressiveness was a benefit, but there were points where he came off as an abusive spouse, which is not a good luck. I think he may have engendered some sympathy for Hillary Clinton among suburban white women, a group he needs to win desperately.

[Maxwell]

As someone admittedly anti-Trump but not quite pro-Clinton I think she won. It wasn't The Greatest Debate of All Time or anything, but she exceeded expectations and shouldn't fall in the polls from this or anything. It won't decisively put Trump away but won't gain him anything either. Anyone who thinks this is the end is a straight-up hack.

I agree 100% with this assessment. Trump can still recover by allowing his people to actually prep him next time.

Hillary actually delivered a really killer line:

Yes Donald I did prepare for this debate, and I also prepared to be President.

[Maxwell]

Something I noticed that could be very troubling for Trump in the next debate: he seemed to only relate to problems in places where he has buildings. He noted multiple times - "I have many buildings in Chicago, it's a mess there" "I have a building in Palm beach, very not racist" "I have a building in Saudi Arabia"...

Trump lacks the emotional empathy to do well in a town hall debate.

And the Dem-leaning polls have far better methodology. The R-leaning polls are polls where it's online polls and any old joe can vote as many times as they want. There's a larger net presence for Trump than there is for Clinton. The fact she's even close speaks volumes about how bad he did.

[Maxwell]

Bernie vs. Hillary was one of the least negative primary races I've ever seen.